


Tranquility

by cmk418



Category: Firefly
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-10-30
Updated: 2007-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:21:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28164663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cmk418/pseuds/cmk418
Summary: Mal Reynolds finds himself in a very familiar situation.Written in 2007 for the Mal/River AU ficathon
Relationships: Malcolm Reynolds/River Tam





	Tranquility

Buttoning up his shirt, Malcolm Reynolds surveyed his appearance in the mirror. He was going to kill Badger. Hadn’t he expressly told his agent “no Westerns” and here he was, dressed as he had been for the past three shows he’d worked on. The only thing missing was a pair of spurs.

Mal walked out of the dressing room and onto the set of the independent production _Tranquillity_. The few assembled crew members scurried around. A sweet-looking little thing gawked at him from the catwalk where she was rigging lights. Mal waved, taking delight in the fact that she blushed before going right back to work.

Looking up, he didn’t realize that he was on a collision course with someone until two hands clamped on his arms. He looked up into the face of the woman in front of him and smiled. “Zoe Alleyne,” he declared, “ain’t you a sight for sore eyes.”

“You too, Mal. And it’s Washburn now.”

“You got married?”

“Sure did. He’s around here some place. The AD.”

“Crew,” Mal scoffed. “Haven’t I always said that fraternizing with crew leads to complications?”

“That you have. But haven’t I always said that your orders don’t work on me?”

“Zoe, you wound me. So, who are you playing? This Jayne Cobb character?”

Mal heard a distinct snort and a giggle from the sidelines. Zoe’s eyes widened. “Did you read the script?”

“My lines. I just skimmed the rest.”

“There’s something you need to know.”

“Well, I sorta figured that her character is a lesbian. You know, how she’s always taking up with those ladies on whatever planet we land on.”

Now, he heard it again. Laughter. As if someone was hearing everything he said. He glanced over to the sidelines and saw the young girl with the headphones on her ears, monitoring the sound on the set.

“Something funny, little one?”

The sound girl just gave him a smile.

Mal turned back to Zoe. “Unions employing child labor now?”

“Oh, that’s River.”

“River? Let me guess, she’s got a twin sister named Summer at home.”

“Actually she’s got a brother named Simon in the director’s chair,” Simon stated, extending a hand toward Mal.

Mal’s eyes narrowed at him. “This your first job, son?”

“I graduated top three percent of my class at USC.”

“Well, we all know how far book-learning gets you on a real set.”

Simon looked thrown. River flashed her brother a sympathetic glance.

Mal’s attention was suddenly on a dark-haired woman approaching them. “Didn’t think they allowed whores on the set,” he muttered.

“They let you here, didn’t they?” Inara’s polite tone barely masked the fact that her eyes were shooting daggers at him.

“I take it you’ve met Miss Serra,” Simon observed.

“’Met’ is a polite way of putting it,” Mal grinned, watching the director fidget nervously.

“Perhaps we should let bygones-“

Mal interrupted. “She the one playing Jayne Cobb? ‘Cause I really don’t want that woman jumping on top of me in firefights.”

“Mister Reynolds, Jayne Cobb is...”

“I’m what?” said a distinctly male voice.

Mal gaped at the large man who was rapidly approaching them. “Forgive me for saying this, Tam, but that is the ugliest woman I’ve ever seen in my life.”

River was nearly rolling on the floor with laughter at his comment. “Look after your sis, Simon. She seems to have gone round the bend.”

Behind him, Zoe was smirking. “Okay, you’ve all gotten a good laugh at my expense, let’s get to work.” Inside, Mal was fuming. Badger was definitely getting an earful as soon as the day was out.

He glanced over at Simon’s loopy sister and whispered just loud enough for the microphone to pick up, “You’ve got a pretty smile.”

When River met his eyes and turned that smile on him, his heart did a flip-flop.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

River Tam couldn’t believe that an internship on her brother’s film would be this much fun. She expected Simon to be hounding her, but he was busy tending fragile egos and bandaging imagined slights among the cast.

Actors were nothing but children.

Still...

“Oh yeah, right there.” The seductive purr came through the headphones. River’s eyes widened as she recognized Mal’s voice. She scanned the set, looking for the actor with the blue eyes and easy smile. “Mmm.”

Her eyes landed on his combat boots and she slowly looked upward. Mal was alone, less than five feet away from where Simon talked quietly with Inara. He grinned at her, then winked.

She tore the headphones from her head. This was too much. How could she concentrate on her job when that man wanted to torment her at every turn? If it wasn’t his eyes and his smile, it was his voice. He’d taken to singing love songs in between takes. He’d pretend like he was singing to Zoe, or Inara, or sometimes even Kaylee, but then his eyes would light upon her and she’d feel the words all the way down to her toes.

Talking to her like she was the only girl in the ‘verse. _The ‘verse._ She bit back a laugh. Thirty hours on the set and she already had the lingo from the script in her head. That and all the secrets of the cast – Wash and Zoe arguing about the feasibility of starting a family, the man they called Jayne looking for a better offer, Inara and the grip Kaylee carrying on behind the scenes, and Mal, her Mal, Malcolm Reynolds, taking it all in stride.

She grabbed a roll of medical tape from her sound kit and walked over to Mal. “Would you take off your shirt for me?”

“What? No. River!” Simon interrupted, catching a glimpse of his little sister’s hands against the naked chest of his star.

“It’s okay. She just needs to fix my-“ He let out a small whelp of pain as River ripped off the tape holding the microphone to his chest.

Simon relaxed and continued his conversation with Inara.

“Maybe you should give a fella fair warning before you do that,” Mal stated.

“Better if it’s fast. Unless you enjoy prolonged pain.”

Mal held her hand against his chest. “There wasn’t anything wrong with my mic, was there?”

“I was picking up some vibes, I mean, vibrations.”

“Vibrations?” he ran his fingers lightly down her arm. “Are you still picking anything up?”

“I don’t know. My headset is over there.”

Mal looked from River to the headset then back to River. “Oh, you really were...”

A smile touched her lips, taking a moment to grow into a full-fledged grin. “You really are easy.”

“You have no idea,” Inara commented on her way past them.

River turned toward Simon. He did not look pleased to see Malcolm Reynolds touching his sister. “Coming, River?”

“Don’t worry about your sis. We're just hooking up-“ River shot Mal a look and disentangled her hands from his. “She's hooking me up. With the sound. And then we’ll be good to go.”

“We’ll be shiny,” supplied River.

Simon sighed, “River, don’t quote the script.”

“Simon,” called Wash. “Kaylee needs you to-“

When Simon scurried off, River turned back toward Mal. “Are we?”

“Are we what?”

“Good to go.”

“You tell me. Let me know once you check out those vibrations. Maybe it’s just how fast my heart beats when I look at you.”

“Now you’re being sappy.”

“Sappy is out?”

“Has it ever been in?” She gave him a teasing grin. “Well maybe, back in your day...”

“My day? Just how old do you think I am?”

“Thirty-nine.”

Mal took her hand once again in his and led her back towards her station. “Thirty-eight.”

“More than twice my age.”

“That means eighteen, right?”

River nodded.

Mal stopped and River turned to face him. “Is this age thing going to be an issue with you?” he asked.

“I was just checking if it was going to be one with you,” she reasoned. “Some men are skittish.”

“I don’t see why. I’m perfectly okay with being thirty-seven.”

“You’re forty-one.”

“Wha-?”

“I looked you up on IMDB last night.”

“You’re still eighteen though, right?”

River leaned close to him. “Would you like to come to my apartment tonight and take a look at my birth certificate?”

Mal let out a laugh that had everybody’s heads turning in their direction. River took a step back, frowning. “Forget it,” she whispered, then moved back to her station and slipped the headphones over her ears.

Mal watched her slip out of his grasp wondering what the hell just happened. Complications. There always were when you got cozy with the crew. At least, that’s what he had thought up until this moment. Looking around the set – Wash and Zoe, Inara and Kaylee – he could see there were people that made it work. He glanced back at River.

“Just surprised me, that’s all,” he mumbled. “Never had a proposition like that before.”

“Two minutes,” yelled Wash.

“I mean in all of my thirty-six years, nobody ever invited me back to their room to see their birth certificate. It was witty and brilliant and perfectly timed.” Mal walked to his mark on the set opposite Inara.

River didn’t look up as she fiddled with the recorder, adjusting the levels where she needed.

Mal continued, trying to get her to notice him. “And I...”

“One minute.” Wash yelled.

Mal locked eyes with Inara, struggling to remember where he needed to be. Part of him was mentally finishing his sentence to River Tam, offering to drive her home after the shooting was done for the day. The rest of him was rapidly adopting the persona of the ship’s captain, re-imagining the scene that they’d blocked twenty minutes ago, before Inara had gotten her panties in a twist over something. What the hell was this scene about anyway?

River glanced up at the action on the set and took in Mal’s slightly panicked look. “Inara, I need to check your sound levels again. Could you give me your first line?”

“Hasn’t anyone ever taught you to knock?”

“Got it. Thanks.”

“Quiet on the set.”

Mal caught River’s eye and smiled. He had a feeling that this wouldn’t be the last time she did something to protect him. Maybe if she continued to save him from himself, this thing between them stood a chance.

River answered Mal’s smile with one of her own. They were "good to go".

“Action!”  



End file.
